Family trees have always been one of my favorite user
interfaces in The Sims game series.
The Sims 2
The Sims 3
I
know a lot of people play only one family or only one generation, but my
preferred type of play involves creating large towns with many families, and
watching them all grow and develop amongst each other over generations. I have always loved seeing how kids age up
and what kind of adults they become, and then I always want to know how they
will parent, and just the same, how their kids will develop and change with age
as well. It’s always rewarding for me to
see my sims’ relations over the years, and maybe that’s because I just happen
to be “family oriented” myself. Whatever
the case, I was disappointed when I discovered that there is no “family tree”
feature in The Sims 4.
There are relationships – don’t get me wrong. Sims still have “mothers” and “fathers” and
“sisters” and “brothers,” they still have “grandparents” and “cousins” and
“aunts” and “uncles,” but there is no visual representation of the interlocking
relationships readily available for your own reference. In the grand scheme of things, I’m sure this
won’t really change my gameplay, but I know I’m already keeping track of my
sims’ relationships independently from the game, on either some other computer
program or on a spare piece of paper. It
isn’t important for a lot of people, but I do like to see how my sims’ families
are comprised, and I like the visual nature of the family tree. My sims know who their relations are – they
know their parents versus other family members versus strangers – but I know
that, if I do build a great town that develops and lasts over generations, I
will eventually lose track of who is related to whom, and I’ll find myself
frustrated by this missing feature. It’s
easy with just a few households of relatively simple, nuclear families, but
once the kids grow up and create families of their own, I’m sure it’ll get more
complicated. That used to be one of my
favorite times in The Sims, but I’m afraid this version of the game will bring
with it a whole new stress that I have no interest in dealing with.
I’m still learning to play Sims 4 – I’ve only had it a few
days and I’m still not fully comfortable with all the new nuances of the game –
so I don’t know whether this will really bother me, as I delve deeper into the
game and start creating my own worlds.
Right now, it’s a little bit of a bother.
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